TANDEM-X: MISSION STATUS AND SCIENCE ACTIVITIES

Abstract:
The paper provides an overview of the German TanDEM-X satellite mission status and its ongoing science activities. The global digital elevation model (DEM) of TanDEM-X became available in 2016 and surpassed all expectations: It has 99.9% coverage, 12-m posting, absolute height accuracy of approximately 1 m and a relative height error (standard deviation) of 0.8 m. This unique data set has been available since then for commercial and scientific applications. In addition, a low-resolution version of the global digital elevation model with 90-m posting has been released for free download for scientific applications.